“Immigration Knocks on the Door . . . We Are Stuck . . .”: A Multilevel Analysis of Undocumented Youth’s Experiences of Racism, System Failure, and Resistance in Policy and School Contexts

Abstract

Background/Context: Undocumented youth navigate unwelcoming federal, state, and local contexts in the United States. Although previous research shows the significant impact of immigration policy and enforcement on educational outcomes and social-emotional well-being, this study sheds light on the multiple, intersecting policy, and school contexts that hinder social and educational mobility. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to elicit Latinx undocumented immigrant youth experiences in a southern state to contribute to evolving research on their experiences in K-12 schools. In addition, the purpose was to understand how undocumented youth (a) talk about the policies that impact their daily lives, (b) perceive the organizational-level structures that exist to support them in school and community contexts, and (c) articulate a sense of belonging through their community and school interactions in relation to processes of racialization and its impact on immigration status. Conceptually, the paper uses a multilevel, interactional framework to show the impact of racialization of Latinx undocumented immigrants in policy, school, and community, and relational contexts. Research Design: The study is a 3-year critical ethnography of two Title I high schools in the U.S. South that maintains particularly restrictive policies toward immigrants. Fieldwork from two school sites and interviews with 63 undocumented youth, and relevant personnel deepen our understanding of their status of illegality—specifically how their material lives are impacted by policy and institutional-level dynamics and constraints. Conclusions/Recommendations: The author shows how youth voice through ethnographic evidence counteracts anti-immigrant policies and criminalization of Latinx immigrants; youth critique social policy and institutions that seek to limit their progress in society. The implications for policymakers, educators, and school-based personnel is significant Although legal status may impose certain limitations on undocumented students’ educational opportunities, their educational trajectories are still highly determined by school structures. Knowing this, educators can respond effectively to ensure educational rights and equitable educational practice.

“Even Being a Citizen Is Not a Privilege Here”: Undocumented Latinx Immigrant Youth and Perceptions of Racialized Citizenship

“…The study was guided by an overarching research question: How do undocumented high school youth in a southern state talk about their perceptions of citizenship in relation to their undocumented status and racial and ethnic identities? The research contributes to previous theoretical discussions of citizenship and brings together previous studies of how citizenship status is racialized (Menjívar 2021;Rodriguez 2022), specifically theorizing racialized citizenship, from youth perspectives, through racial scripts (Molina 2014) and underscoring youth's relational and resistive dimensions of citizenship as well as their responses to institutional forms of citizenship (Molina 2014). We argue that the notion of racialized citizenship through racial scripts is critical for understanding how Latinx immigrant youth are socially positioned within U.S. racial hierarchies.…”

“…Critical to this access, she shared experiences as a teacher, researcher, and first-generation, Latinx Cuban female to build relationships and trust with youth. Sophia discusses elsewhere how the "stories we held in common" as children of immigrants, specifically that her father was a Cuban refugee, shape her research and activism with Latinx immigrant communities and promoted a sense of connection with youth despite being a U.S. citizen (Bettie 2003;Rodriguez 2020Rodriguez , 2022. The two sites were selected for their rising population of Latinx undocumented students.…”

An Undocumented Student's Quest for Acceptance: A Testimonio Analysis Traversing the Chicanx Educational Pipeline

“…Student activism (Gonzales, 2008;Negrón-Gonzales, 2015;Escudero, 2020;Terriquez et al, 2018) and resistance movements (Buenavista, 2018;Pérez Huber, 2017;Rodriguez, 2022) were instrumental in demanding equitable opportunities and resources for undocumented students, drawing significant attention and leading to policies like DACA that temporarily widened access to employment and higher education. A recent report by the President's Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration (2021) found that there were approximately 427,000 undocumented students, with about 181,000 of them who were DACA-eligible.…”

Schools under siege: The impact of immigration enforcement on educational equity. PatriciaGándara and JongyeonEe, eds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2021, 215 pp.

“…This book offers an examination of the history of immigration enforcement policies, the effects of the pandemic, the role of teachers, ICE and police partnerships in local communities, and a model of sanctuary schooling. Building upon recent scholarship that separately analyzes school‐based personnel (Rodriguez & Crawford, 2021; Rodriguez, et al, 2021; Rodriguez, 2022), Gándara and Ee disrupt the notion that immigration policies can be separate from education policies. Given the invasive immigration enforcement apparatus into multiple sectors of immigrants’ everyday lives (Menjívar, 2014; Verma et al, 2017), this book exposes the uncomfortable truth that immigration authorities and lawmakers must be aware of the impact their actions have on children.…”